I don’t catch a lot of TV these days, but when I do, I love watching a show on HGTV called “Designed to Sell” – a program that shows how staging a home can make it more appealing to buyers and, ultimately, get it sold quicker and at the desired price.

During each show, a team made up of the home owners, a few carpenters, and a professional home stager, tackle and troubleshoot a listed property that has been sitting on the market for too long. The goal is to get the problem home “Open House” ready and, hopefully, sold, using a very small budget and not a lot of time. In just a few days they reposition, repurpose, and redecorate, and the results are almost always jaw-dropping.

The best part of the show, of course, is the big “before and after” reveal, and during a recent episode, I was struck by the parallels between getting a home ready to sell and getting the body into the great shape.

In fact, there are 3 main rules of home staging - what the insiders call the 3 D’s – Disassociate / De-clutter / Depersonalize - and these apply perfectly to fitness. Here’s how:

Disassociate
The first rule of thumb when trying to sell a house is to begin acting as though your home is no longer yours. This requires moving past your physical and emotional connection to it, as well as changing the way you live in it while you are waiting to move to a better place.

The first step in the disassociating process (whether it’s your house or your physical appearance) is to get it looking as new and fresh as you possibly can RIGHT NOW. Then, make a vow to keep it looking nice as you make the transition between the old and the new.

Buy a new set of workout clothes or try out a new hair style. Get a new pair of tennis shoes or go ahead and buy that new outfit - the one that fits NOW. Too often, in the process of changing, we take a “wait until I’ve reached my goal” attitude and this can actually slow the process of reaching your goal!

Feeling and looking your best as you get fit is one of the most frequently missed elements of making a successful physical transformation.

De-clutter
Nothing saps the energy of a space, or the people in it, like clutter. Unfortunately, when you are accustomed to living with piles of papers, unfolded laundry, and dirty dishes in the sink, it is very easy not to notice how it affects everything else around you. Sure, it seems silly to think that the reason you haven’t made it to the gym the past 4 weeks is due, in part, to the fact that your car needs to be cleaned out, but, I can assure you, there is a connection.

Mark my word, whether you want to change your body or change your address, one of the smartest things you can do is get organized, put things in their place, and make some visual room so you can think straight.

Organize your linen closet, clean out your pantry, cut your collection of glass elephants back to your three favorites. As you de-clutter, it might surprise you how many areas of your life begin to improve!

Depersonalize
Most people get stuck where they are (whether it’s in a house they can’t sell or a body they can’t change) because they insist on telling it “like it is.”

“This is who I am…” they’ll say, or “I know myself and this is how it’s going to stay.”

When we insist on telling the “who I am” story rather than the “who I’m becoming” story, it tends to lock us to all our old habits, thoughts and actions – the very ones that got us stuck in the first place.

Breaking free sometimes requires stepping outside ourselves and looking at our lives, our homes, and our bodies through an impartial lens. Home stagers do this by encouraging homeowners to decorate and arrange their homes in a way that appeals to a larger population.

From a fitness perspective, when it comes to changing the body, a good place to start is by telling a softer, happier story, one more people would like to hear, including you.

For instance, if you’ve always told the story of how you absolutely hate doing cardio, try changing your story to, “I look forward to a time when cardio is something I really enjoy.”

The key is to look forward and tell the story of the new you!

About the Author:
Dianne Orwig is a success coach, motivational speaker, fitness trainer, and founder of LivingFit Online™, a fitness program that has helped thousands of men and women completely transform their bodies and live healthier, happier lives though her less-is-better approach.

For more information on how you can get better results in less time and with less effort than you ever thought possible, visit http://www.lovelivingfit.com.

(c) Copyright - Dianne Orwig. All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Life can be magical when you have a clear set of personal rules to live by.  Here are my top 10 rules for living a happy, abundant life. (I hope they inspire you to create your own set of rules for living life to the fullest!)

Life Rule #1: Look for what pleases you, rather than what annoys you
Whether it’s your partner, your brother, your pet, home, or work, try pointing the majority of your attention toward the things you really love and appreciate, rather than looking for the things you find annoying or irritating.

Life Rule #2: Have a life that is yours alone
Try, as much as possible, to live a life that is not tied too closely to the actions and opinions of others. Do what you love and love what you do.

Life Rule#3: Appreciate where you are now
As you make your way toward your ultimate goals and dreams, make an intentional effort to love where you are on the way there. Find at least one thing about your life RIGHT NOW that satisfies you.

Life Rule #4: Have some fun
Laugh, dance, do something silly. Watch a funny movie, go for a swim, have lobster for dinner. Whatever you think is fun, pick one thing per day and Just Do It!

Life Rule #5: Say what you need to say
Don’t hold back… if you want to say, “I love you,” say it. If you need to say, “You hurt me,” say that too.

Life Rule #6: Surround yourself with people you love

Make a list of the people who make you feel safe, inspired, happy, or motivated. Keep them close and let them know, on a regular basis, how much they mean to you.

Life Rule #7: Forget About the money (At least for a little while)
Money makes the world go round, BUT if everything you do is based solely on the monetary value, you’re destined to miss a lot of life on the way to your “riches.” Make a habit of doing something every day that you would do regardless of whether you ever see a dime for your efforts or not.

Life Rule #8: Be a duck – let things roll off your back
Contrary to popular belief, life is not about struggle, hardship and pain. Often, simply deciding that you will look the other way, turn the other cheek, or smile and say “no problem,” can spell the difference between misery and happiness. It’s always your choice.

Life Rule #9:  Do a DRAK (Daily Random Act of Kindness)
Hold the elevator, wave the other car in, in fact, let two in, pay the next guy’s toll, tell someone they smell really good. Find someone to compliment and do it.

Life Rule#10: Take care of the vehicle you’ve been given
In a world where most of our time is spent taking care of others - our boss, our children, a friend in need, our significant other - it’s important to remember that it's our physical bodies that take us from point “A” to point “B.”  Without it, it’s impossible to take care of anything or anyone else. Make self-care a top priority.

About the Author:
Dianne Orwig is a success coach, motivational speaker, fitness trainer, and founder of LivingFit Online™, a fitness program that has helped thousands of men and women completely transform their bodies and live healthier, happier lives though her less-is-better approach.
For more information on how you can get better results in less time and with less effort than you ever thought possible, visit http://www.lovelivingfit.com.

(c) Copyright - Dianne Orwig. All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Have you ever known someone who always (or almost always) seems to get what they want?  I’ve known a few people in my life that fit that description and, while I’m not crowing, I have been tagged as one of those lucky people more than once or twice. My sister likes to call it being “spoiled rotten.” My best friend says it’s that “diva-like state of mind” that makes so many things go my way.

But, spoiled rotten, diva-like or not, having spent a good part of my life on the over side of the fence (hardly ever getting anything I wanted) I highly recommend the alternative and, today, I want to share with you one of the best secrets I know for shifting your life into “get what you want” mode, pronto.

Focus More on WHAT and Less on HOW– When my husband and I met, we knew within days that we would someday get married. Three years later, it still hadn’t happened – but it was not for a lack of trying. It was simply that, in the process of planning around everyone and everything else, we lost sight of what WE wanted.  We spent hours, days, and months trying to map out and coordinate everything. How would we include the kids in the ceremony? Where did our friends fit in? Who would give me away? Where would we have the party afterwards?

When it became clear that we would never be able to oblige everyone, we threw in the towel and decided on a private ceremony for two. From that moment on, in what seemed like an almost magical sequence of events, everything began to fall into perfect order. A few weeks later we were married in an elegant ceremony, held in an intimate chapel, aboard a beautiful ship, with our original list of family and friends in attendance, white gown, champagne toast and all.  In other words, the minute we let go of all the nitty-gritty details of how and focused all of our attention on what we wanted, everything happened beautifully and effortlessly.

Now, I am not implying, of course, that planning isn’t an important element of getting what you want, but when you find yourself longing for something that is slow to arrive or it feels as though it will never happen, it might be a good idea to examine where you are placing the majority of your attention.  Is your main focus on the vision of what you want and how amazing it will feel when it is finally yours, or is your mind constantly aimed at all of the ”Point-A-To-Point-B” mechanics of getting there? As counter intuitive as it might seem, shifting your focus off “how” and placing it squarely on “what” you want has a powerful way of putting you on the expressway to your heart’s desire.

If there is something you really want, but it seems to be taking forever to show up in your life, try taking about 10 minutes a day to sit quietly by yourself, without any distractions, and imagine the moment you are waiting for. Feel the excitement of getting what you want, imagine what it looks like, sounds like, smells like, and tastes like. Try your best to avoid any resistant thoughts of “but this has to happen first… then this… then this…” Try, instead, to simply experience the joy of that moment- as though you are merely recalling a wonderful memory that has already occurred.  Get back to what you want, forget about how it will arrive (if only for a while,) and you will be amazed at how quickly it will arrive.

About the Author:
Dianne Orwig is a success coach, motivational speaker, fitness trainer, and founder of LivingFit Online™, a fitness program that has helped thousands of men and women completely transform their bodies and live healthier, happier lives though her less-is-better approach.

For more information on how you can get better results in less time and with less effort than you ever thought possible, visit http://www.lovelivingfit.com.

(c) Copyright - Dianne Orwig. All Rights Reserved Worldwide